My views on Good vs Bad Editorial Magazine Design. (2024)

Personally speaking, I don’t really read magazines. I have no recollection of many magazine distributors, however, I am sure that for my next module at University and that its based around editorial design, I will learn a great deal more. Having done some research of my own, one editorial magazine that caught my eye (excuse the pun) were these Eye magazine covers. Each and every cover is associated with a different issue, all of which are incredibly but beautifully different. They are so simple in design, there is no issue number, no title yet from the visual language, the typography and the colour considerations, you can tell that they are all different issues, all based on a different topic. Everything from colour scheme to typography to imagery, all are completely different, yet they scream Eye Magazine to me, even though I had no idea that this magazine existed until now (slightly embarrassing as it is a graphic design magazine oops). The visual language in itself is exquisite. The logo creates a constant graphic language, something which Eye magazine have clearly and quite cleverly rendered their own. I believe that they work so well because they are so visually pleasing. They don’t follow a specific grid layout and that’s whats so interesting about them. The covers to me feel like you are entering the mind of someone else, or in this case the cover designers mind. They way that the type and imagery are displayed is like the designer has jut thrown his ideas out there, like a type of expressionism. You can tell just by looking at these that the designer/s had fun making them. This reflects in the narrative of the magazine, and what is greatly important for like-minded creatives who buy this magazine. I can’t even begin to choose my favourite design. That’s how you know that the designs on these are simply breath-taking, and I think you can agree with me on that.

Here you can see a double page spread published in one of Eye Magazines issues. This whole article talks about the importance of grid structures and hierarchical layouts. This itself follows some sort of structure, it is very neat and very informative. To me, the monochrome colour scheme shows the simplicity in grid structures and hierarchical layouts, and how Eye Magazine are trying to showcase this to aspiring designers. The boxed approach in which they have displayed imagery also adds to the balanced and strict structure on this spread. However, having seen the cover designs for these magazines, I would assume that other double-page spreads may not follow a clear visual structure due to the expressionistic approach taken to design the covers. But that may not be the case.

This on the other hand, is a truly ugly designed magazined. I don’t know if this magazine is intentionally ugly due to its name but the Ugly Things Magazine is well and truly ugly. This issue cover which I found online shows how aged and outdated the design really is. This isn’t the only one, I found other covers exactly the same as this. They all seem to follow the same ugly approach. But what I am thinking is, who in their right mind thought that this design was acceptable? I think the designer tried to expressionistic when using coloured shapes in the background, but unlike Eye Magazine, this did not age well. The shades of these colours are horrible, they look like the belong on a bus seat, that’s what it reminds me of. Don’t even get me started on the typography. For one they don’t stick to one typography style, which for me just creates a disjointed cover. What narrative are you trying to go for here? The typography used for the Ugly Things logo reminds me of something you’d find in the old Beano comics, and should not belong anywhere, let alone this magazine cover. I just think that the reason why this doesn’t work as a magazine cover is because there is too much going on, and whilst that is not always a bad thing, this cover doesn’t do this well. There are too many different elements that I feel have been forced together here, and they don’t create a coherent design. I couldn’t find any spreads from any of these magazines online as I think that this is a magazine that no longer exists and therefore isn’t widely available in the modern day era but I wouldn’t expect to see a clear hierarchy or structure. That’s why I believe this magazine is truly ugly. You really earned your name there Ugly Things Magazine.